In Search of Wildlife Habitats and Lifers

Our wildlife habitat on campus will be a slow process. I arranged a meeting with a State environmentalist and a few campus committee members to assess our campus for possible sites and to talk about obtaining NWH certification. We met yesterday. She was quite knowledgeable and had great suggestions and encouragement for us. We walked the entire campus and I’ll add that it was 92 degrees in the shade. No one whined or complained but since the weather inside the offices is a crisp 65 degrees and we dress accordingly, we all looked like cats in a bathtub by the time we finished the tour. The creek bed above provides water, shelter, a food source, and it’s loaded with all sorts of wildlife, including numerous snakes. No thank you. Additionally, it backs up to the transportation technology building that houses the roaring engines of tractors hitched to 18-wheeler trailers and other engine noisy equipment. No way.

Another area of the campus has a small pond surrounded by tall oaks, pines, birches, and some smaller ornamental trees. Now, doesn’t that sound encouraging? It’s located near the law enforcement building where I work but there is a plan for building a firing range next to it for law enforcers/swat teams. Now, isn’t that just dandy! No thanks.

Our hopes were crushed until we made the last stop on the tour at the home of Millie and Johnny. They have their hands full right now and I wish I could peek inside that house. None of us had ever noticed this:

A water source is located only a few yards away from where Millie & Johnny live! It works, too!

This is the area we have chosen to start. In the fall, we’ll begin planting low berry producing shrubs for ground feeders, butterfly bushes, native flowers, nesting boxes that are properly mounted and baffled, simple water features like bird baths or a fountain, paving stones for designated walkways, and signage. Now we have something to look forward to!

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The temperatures plummeted thirty degrees this evening, the winds picked up, and the sky is dark. I am praying for rain tonight. Since I’ve been living in North Carolina, the droughts have plagued us.

The migrating birds are arriving every day and I can’t keep up. I’ve seen flashes of birds I can’t even identify yet. But I will.

Sure, I’m obsessed with the hummingbirds right now, but who wouldn’t? I added a new feeder on the deck but they haven’t discovered it yet.

Through the sunroom glass, I got him! My photographing tactics need improving and I know I’ll have them mastered in the coming months. I’m giddy with excitement!

Still playing games with me. Those Chickadees make my heart rate rise so quickly! Damn!

I’ve seen so many Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks on fabulous blogs in the past week and I poo-pooed myself, thinking I’d never see one here. Well, look! Drop dead gorgeous. I hope he comes back! I’ve joined the club. Or, may I join?

One of the few flowers I have. I am absolutely aching to spend a week of loading flats of flowers and flowering bushes in my car… crawling around in the soil… Sigh… My office job really gets in the way.

And forget the lifers for a minute. Here’s a reliable, sweet, food-loving, lovey-dovey visitor that I see every day, all year long.